One of the leading myths about implementing an ergonomic program into your home or office concerns the cost of such change.

Implementing Ergonomics Into Your Organization

Many office managers and corporate executives may be tempted to skip integrating new ergonomic measures and products into their workplace safety plans during economic downturns. However, during tough economic times is exactly when you canâ€™t afford to neglect investing in your office ergonomics.

The Cost Of Neglecting Your Ergonomic Needs

Still not convinced about how your organization can benefit from focusing on office safety and efficiency? Consider the following from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

37% of all work related injuries are caused by poor ergonomic conditions.

The average work related injury caused by poor ergonomics easily totals $100,000 in lost time, disability ratings, compensation and potential litigation.

Workers who suffer a musculoskeletal disorder lose up to 19 days of work on average.

Musculoskeletal disorders are a major national problemâ€”costing the US economy more than $50 billion dollars a year.

Whether you are operating in a healthy or lean economy, you need your employees to stay healthy and productive. An effective ergonomics campaign is a proactive approach to preventing workplace injury. Fewer injuries in your office equal fewer claims. And fewer claims equal lower insurance premiums.

Ergonomic and Economic Gains

While many companies have heard of the cost savings associated with preventing musculoskeletal disorders, many havenâ€™t heard that improving their organizationâ€™s ergonomics almost always improves a companyâ€™s productivity.

In fact, on average, companies will receive $3 or more for every $1 they spend on improving their office ergonomics and workplace safety. For more specific examples, the following table details some specific ergonomic interventions made by certain companies and the productivity and profit increases they achieved as a result.

Saved over $150, 000 in one year through reduced waste and higher productivity

Toy Manufacturing Plant

Product Design Change

A savings of $0.11 per part

Myth #1 = BUSTED

When considering the cost of an ergonomics intervention in your workplace or home, the situation must be viewed in light of the positive effects of ergonomics on productivity and the savings resultant from fewer workplace injury claims. With these considerations in mind, it becomes evident that you cannot afford to skimp on workstation safety and efficiency.

Whether you need to improve the ergonomic arrangement and workflow in your home, office, school or medical facility, VersaTables has a great variety of ergonomically approved furniture and accessories that can up your productivity while preventing injury as well.

Consider Your Ergonomic Needs Today

Not sure how you can improve the ergonomics in your home or workplace? Use our simple checklists to measure the efficiency and safety of your workflow.

As corporations have begun to focus on the importance of workplace safety and efficiency, many manufacturers have take the opportunity to capitalize on this interest. The term â€œergonomicâ€ is loosely applied to a wide variety of products. With no marketing restrictions on this descriptive, some products may actually enhance operational safety and efficiency while others do not.Â Ergonomics Myth #2 is that simply labeling something â€œergonomically correctâ€ doesnâ€™t mean that it really is, or that it will help each individual in your workplace.

Ergonomics Requires Active Involvement

Many executives and managers might purchase ergonomically designed products and distribute them to employees, then pat themselves on the back believing they have fulfilled their obligation to workplace safety.

While ergonomically designed furniture will certainly help workplace satisfaction, safety and productivity to some degree, simply distributing these products to employees will not result in great increases of workflow.

For an ergonomics program to truly be effective, users must be educated about how to interact safely and efficiently with their workstations. Further, ergonomics is not the same for each individual. Every user and workstation must be carefully evaluated and improved individually.

Tools to Help Bust Ergonomics Myth #2

At VersaTables, we are proud to help you take a more active role in the ergonomics of your home or workplace. Not only do we provide quality furniture for home, medical, educational and business use that is designed around ergonomically centered principles; we also are dedicated to providing you with the necessary tools to help you evaluate and identify your ergonomics needs.

Quick Tips

Infographics

Of course, when it comes to overcoming the myths surrounding ergonomics, executives and managers are not the only ones who may need to be convinced about the cost or use of ergonomic policies. Oftentimes, educating and persuading employees about the workflow advantages associated with ergonomic principles presents its own challenge.

Sometimes employees might not take new ergonomic policies seriously, viewing a shift in workflow as just another â€œfeel good projectâ€ implemented by higher-ups who arenâ€™t actually working in the ranks.

There are several things management can do in order to fight against this myth.

Employee Education

The term â€œErgonomicsâ€ can be confusing and hard to define. So it isnâ€™t surprising that your employees might not know exactly what to do with the â€œergonomically correctâ€ policies you implement or the computer furniture you distribute. When management fails to effectively communicate their motivations and purpose behind any policy shift, it can cause employees to brush off their actions or fail to take new policies seriously.

Spending adequate time educating your employees as to the importance of an ergonomic workspace is an investment that will pay big dividends in return. After all, studies show that when an organization seriously invests into ergonomic workflow they gain greater employee satisfaction and output productivity.

Education Resources

At VersaTables, we are proud to supply quality furniture for home, medical, educational and business use. Each of our products is designed around ergonomically centered principles. We donâ€™t use such designs simply for marketing purposes, but we genuinely believe in making your workspace more effective, safe and comfortable. We also are dedicated to providing you with information to share with your associates, helping them understand the many benefits of adopting an ergonomic lifestyle.

Ergonomic Tools

Quick Tips

Infographics

A common misconception concerning ergonomics is that one ergonomic workstation will be completely effective for every employee or user. While it is true that some basic ergonomic principles apply to all quality made office furniture, the way that employees and users interact with this office furniture is entirely individual.

And every individual has different needs. We are shaped differently, move differently and process information and work-related tasks differently.

To implement a truly effective ergonomic culture into your office, institution or home, these individual differences must be taken into account.Â After all, one of the most fundamental principles of ergonomics is that individual differences should be recognized and accommodated.

Individual Analysis

The first step to busting the myth that â€œone size fits allâ€ wide open is to make accommodations to analyze the needs of your individual employees and office users. The best way to accomplish this is to carefully observe any given user in their everyday work. Using ergonomic principles and measures you should carefully note any ways that their workstation and habits could be altered to support better work flow efficiency, comfort and safety.

The following checklists can help an observer identify ways to further incorporate ergonomic principles into each individualâ€™s workflow.

The Advantage of Adjustability

Because of the individual needs associated with true ergonomics, it is important that you choose to only use ergonomically designed products that make accommodations for such needs. Computer furniture that is adjustable in nature can be manipulated to effectively fit a wide variety of users.

VersaTables is proud to offer a high quality line of ergonomically designed furniture that offers you all the advantages of adjustability, enabling each individual who utilizes our products to fit a desk, computer cart or chair to their unique needs.

Further, our VersaTables design team is always willing to work individually with your organization to create customized products specific to your needs. We have designed and created such custom computer furniture for numerous corporations, military offices, universities and hospitals. Why not learn what we can do for your organization today?

When hearing the term â€œergonomicsâ€ some individuals might automatically associate the idea with simply avoiding Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other repetitive stress injuries.

However, there is much more to ergonomics than just eliminating the risk of CTS.

While avoiding CTS and other serious workplace injuries is certainly a key component of ergonomic design, there are other tremendous benefits to upgrading your home, business, education or medical office to reflect ergonomic principles.

Injuries Ergonomics Helps Avoid

According to a recent study, most Americans between the ages of 22 and 65 spend 40 to 50 percent of their waking hours at work. Clearly, this is a significant amount of time, and every year millions of Americans suffer injuries in their workplace. However, implementing more ergonomic principles can help to avoid many of these common injuries.

Hand & Wrist

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

De Quervainâ€™s Disease

Cumulative Trauma Disorders

Elbow

Tendonitis

Epicondylitis

Cumulative Trauma Disorders

Shoulder

Rotator Cuff Tendonitis

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Cumulative Trauma Disorders

Neck

Tension Neck Syndrome

Cumulative Trauma Disorders

Back

Disc Herniation

Back Pain

Back Sprain

Cumulative Trauma Disorders

Eyes

Eye Strain

Mental Health

Psychological Stress

Ergonomics Not Only Avoid Injuries, But Boosts Productivity and Morale

Of course, avoiding workplace injuries is not the only benefit associated with an increased awareness of ergonomics in the workplace. Numerous studies suggest that by focusing on making their employees more comfortable, efficient and safe, companies stand to gain great return in employee satisfaction and productivity. And, in most cases, these gains also translate in to profit gains as well. In fact, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, companies receive $3 or more for every $1 spent on improving office ergonomics and workplace safety.

When speaking to the average individual if you mention that you are working to make your home or workplace more focused on effective ergonomics, invariably you might hear the response, â€œSo you are making things safer?â€

And while this statement is certainly trueâ€”ergonomics is very concerned with user safetyâ€”it is really only half of the story. Along with working to make home, office, education, medical and other industrial workspaces more safe; ergonomics is also concerned with optimizing organizational workflow for productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

In fact, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, companies receive $3 or more for every $1 spent on improving office ergonomics and workplace safety.

Efficiency

There are many variables that impact the quality of the work that employees in any given industry are able to perform, or even the quality of work that individuals are able to achieve in their home offices. Body motions, visibility and workload are all such variables. These variables impact not only the quality of work performed, but also the quality of product that results from that work.

By working to match the task to the worker â€”in terms of making their workspace more comfortable and useableâ€”a worker will make fewer errors and produce less waste., making the entire work process more efficient.

Effectiveness

By working to help users be more productive and efficient in their daily tasks, an entire organizational workflow can become more effective.An increase in effectiveness leads to a deeper sense of employee satisfaction and loyalty. When ergonomic principles are implemented at every level of an organization, the concepts of safety, efficiency and productivity become a nearly tangible part of an organizationâ€™s culture, making that organization that much more effective in their work and their industry.

Often, people associate the term ergonomics with computer workstations. And while it is true that much of the recent advancements in the field of ergonomics are concerned with improving office workspaces, there are many other areas of your life that can benefit from adopting ergonomic principles as well.

Office workers are not the only ones who face physically demanding jobs that can benefit from ergonomic programs. Consider for a moment some of the industries that also find increased safety, effectiveness and efficiency from pursuing ergonomic implementation.

Educational Institutions

It is not only office workers who spend a significant amount of their time sitting. Students of all ages also spend great amounts of time behind a desk either in the classroom or doing homework outside of the class period. Consider the following:

According to a study published in Postsecondary Education Opportunity, the average college student spends 3.6 hours a day in a classroom and 2.8 hours a day studying. During these seven hours most are sitting.

FamilyEducation.com reports that the average high school junior spends 35 hours per week behind a desk during class time.

Even elementary students spend an average of 51/2 hours per day sitting during instructional segments.

Clearly, students spend a great amount of their time sittingâ€”and the type of furniture they sit at impacts their ability to learn and retain information. The more ergonomically friendly the school furniture, the healthier and more effective the learning environment is.

Medical Institutions

Of course, ergonomics does not just apply to industries or institutions that entail a lot of time behind a desk. The medical field is another important industry where effective ergonomic programs are crucial to employee effectiveness, safety and health. The following are just a few concerns that render the medical industry a prime place for the implementation of ergonomic policies and equipment.

The medical field is a high-stress industry, demanding great amounts of time and attention from employees.

Healthcare institutions, like hospitals, outpatient clinics and rehabilitation centers, operate on a 24/7/365 schedule, meaning that work must happen around the clock.

Most medical workplaces involve both solo and collaborative work demands

New legislation mandates the digitization of medical records and processing, making it necessary for medical institutions to move to paperless workflow.

The client, patient and employee population of the medical industry includes individuals of all ages, sizes and characteristics.

Many healthcare jobs are characterized by multi-tasking.

Adjustable and user-friendly products play an important part in the implementation of medical field ergonomics. Computer carts and PACS furniture help establish and maintain employee effectiveness, safety and comfort.

Home Use

Regardless of what industry you might work in, whether you sit behind a desk or are on your feet all day, when you get home you likely want to relax and unwind. By making sure your home is ergonomically friendly and that you live and ergonomic lifestyle, you can find greater comfort in your castle.

To help you recognize the ergonomic needs in your home, you might walk through each of your rooms referring to a home ergonomic checklist.

Driving

Whether you make a daily commute to work, school or a medical institution, you spend a significant amount of time in your car. Each day you accumulate a lot of time behind the wheel. By applying ergonomic principles to your commute, you can further enhance your ergonomic living,and ensure that you are already in a healthy and comfortable mode when arriving at your destination.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory explains, â€œThe goal of driving ergonomics is to fit your car so you can drive in a way that maximizes the natural ability of your body to move and respond to physical stress. This minimizes exposures to risk factors and may result in injury or illness.â€